Electronic devices such as computers are often interconnected to peripheral devices to communicate data. Examples of peripheral devices include a keyboard, a mouse, a memory device, and a printer. A Universal Serial Bus (USB) is often used to communicate data between a host processor and peripheral devices. A USB host controller manages the transfer of data over a USB bus to downstream USB devices.
Power management of the interconnected devices is becoming more of a concern as computers implement mobile system platforms where the computers and devices are battery powered. While a USB is quite effective at moving large amounts of data very quickly, it can be relatively inefficient with respect to power consumption. One reason for this inefficiency is the USB host controller's reliance on main memory for virtually all of its operational state and the distribution of the operational state across comparatively small non-contiguous data structures in the main memory, which requires the USB host controller to frequently access data transfer schedule structures in the main memory. Another reason is the inability for USB devices to asynchronously notify the USB host controller upon meaningful events, such as when the device is ready to transfer data.
The present inventors have recognized a need for improvement in USB communications, particularly in making USB asynchronous data transfers more power efficient.